Budgeting for Zanesville City Jail

The second floor of the Zanesville City Jail has been closed for nearly two years and now local officials are discussing the idea of possibly opening it back up.

Monday night at City Council, Police Chief Eric Lambes was asked to outline a budget to figure out how much it would cost to reopen that part of the jail. It was previously shut down due to lack of funds. Concerns, however, are now being raised over Governor Kasich's plans to change sentencing for convicts in order to save the state money.

"When these reforms occur, we're going to get worse, we're going to be burdened further with additional prisoners because the sentences are going to mandate that they stay local instead of going to a state prison," said Chief Lambes.

He said there are currently more than 100 offenders waiting to serve time. He said many are beginning to abuse the legal system because they know they won't go to jail immediately, if at all.

"It's very troubling for our judge to have somebody come before him where he is suppose to meet out justice in a proper manner and he can't put them in jail because there's no place to put them," said the chief.

Lambes is planning to present the report to city council within the next two weeks.